Parting Dialogue with Chancellor Green

Curt Bright Author

05/10/2023 Added

229 Plays

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Ronnie Green discusses his time as chancellor of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a group of students, faculty and alumni.

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[00:00:02.190]Well, it's really great to be here today
[00:00:03.470]at the Dinsdale Family Learning Commons on East Campus,
[00:00:06.450]one of my favorite places in the world.
[00:00:09.240]This was the library for East Campus
[00:00:12.150]when I was a graduate student here in 1985, 1986, 1987.
[00:00:18.090]And at one point,
[00:00:18.930]my doctoral dissertation was in the bottom floor
[00:00:21.330]of this building with a $20 bill on it, where you,
[00:00:25.080]the tradition was when you filed your dissertation,
[00:00:28.740]you would put a $20 bill in the copy
[00:00:30.810]that went to the library,
[00:00:32.040]and come back 20 years later
[00:00:34.260]and see if the $20 bill was still in the document.
[00:00:38.548](audience laughing)
[00:00:39.540]I'll leave it to you to guess
[00:00:40.650]whether mine was still in there or not.
[00:00:42.277](audience laughing)
[00:00:44.310](chuckles) But roughly 20 years later,
[00:00:45.600]I came back to interview for the vice chancellor position
[00:00:49.020]that I ended up coming into in 2010.
[00:00:52.470]So as I get ready to retire and look toward next month
[00:00:57.240]when I'll finish my role as chancellor here
[00:00:59.520]at the university,
[00:01:01.093]I just thought it would be fun
[00:01:02.550]to talk with students and some of our faculty
[00:01:06.960]informally today.
[00:01:08.280]So we're gathered here in order to do that,
[00:01:11.550]and talk about some of the things
[00:01:12.750]that are really important about our university
[00:01:15.030]and important about what's happened
[00:01:17.220]over the last seven years
[00:01:18.780]that I've had the pleasure and the privilege
[00:01:21.210]to serve as the chancellor
[00:01:22.680]for our land-grant University research intensive campus
[00:01:27.900]here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:01:29.670]So great to be with you all today
[00:01:31.530]and I look forward to the conversation.
[00:01:34.890]Who's got a question for me?
[00:01:36.660]I do, sir.
[00:01:38.370]My name's Hunter Traynor.
[00:01:39.240]I'm a graduate of University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:01:42.420]and the College of Law here on East Campus.
[00:01:46.200]My question is about access and engagement,
[00:01:49.380]but I want to frame it
[00:01:50.430]before I get into the substance of it.
[00:01:52.470]I think that the pandemic triggered
[00:01:55.170]this sort of watershed reevaluation
[00:01:57.360]of the value proposition of higher education
[00:02:01.200]and four-year college degrees.
[00:02:03.480]That's not limited to the pandemic,
[00:02:05.460]but I think societally,
[00:02:06.750]it triggered some questions about that.
[00:02:08.730]So specific to University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:02:12.300]as a land-grant institution,
[00:02:14.220]what role will a university like this play
[00:02:16.980]in either responding to some of those societal criticisms
[00:02:21.420]or pushing back on them?
[00:02:23.370]Welcome back to campus, Hunter.
[00:02:25.860]Hunter was the ASUN president,
[00:02:28.710]one of those years that I was chancellor here
[00:02:31.050]four years ago?
[00:02:32.730]Think that's right. Surprisingly.
[00:02:34.320]Yeah, four years ago.
[00:02:35.820]And then went on to law school as he said,
[00:02:38.010]and graduated and is now a lawyer here in Lincoln.
[00:02:41.220]Maybe even gonna be my lawyer, you know?
[00:02:43.162](laughs) So coming up here.
[00:02:45.446](audience laughing) Yeah, yeah, coming up here.
[00:02:47.280]So thank you for the question.
[00:02:48.660]I, you know, one of the fiercest things that I believe in,
[00:02:53.610]and I think many of you'll have heard me say this before,
[00:02:57.150]I fiercely believe in the land-grant model of education.
[00:03:01.740]I absolutely fiercely believe in it.
[00:03:04.530]And, you know, we're very fortunate here at Nebraska
[00:03:08.700]to be one of the leading land-grant universities
[00:03:11.070]in the country.
[00:03:12.300]Our foundation is as a land-grant university,
[00:03:15.180]when we were formed here in 1869, 154 years ago,
[00:03:19.890]and access,
[00:03:21.630]access to the highest quality world-class education
[00:03:25.770]has always been the premier hallmark
[00:03:28.320]of that land-grant mission that we have.
[00:03:31.380]And it still is the hallmark of our mission
[00:03:35.220]154 years later.
[00:03:37.500]And by access, we're actually, you may not,
[00:03:41.610]may or may not know this.
[00:03:43.980]As a land-grant institution,
[00:03:46.110]we're one of the highest access land-grant institutions
[00:03:50.610]in the country.
[00:03:52.170]We are, right?
[00:03:53.460]There are several land-grant institutions
[00:03:55.290]in our Big Ten right,
[00:03:56.400]that we're part of and proud to be part of
[00:03:58.830]who are land-grants as well.
[00:04:00.840]We are the highest access land-grant institution
[00:04:04.860]in the Big Ten.
[00:04:05.727]And I'm really proud of that,
[00:04:07.740]proud of the opportunity that
[00:04:10.230]that access provides for our students
[00:04:13.410]coming here as undergraduate students,
[00:04:15.390]coming here as graduate students,
[00:04:17.040]coming here as professional students,
[00:04:18.540]like law students, for example.
[00:04:21.390]That access is critical,
[00:04:23.220]and it's been a hallmark of us for a long, long time.
[00:04:27.510]You know, if you think about, in Nebraska alone,
[00:04:32.220]and you go out today
[00:04:33.360]and you look at the population of our state,
[00:04:36.750]this institution has educated the majority of our teachers,
[00:04:42.750]of our doctors, of our lawyers, of our bankers,
[00:04:46.920]of our leaders in political life in the state of Nebraska.
[00:04:50.940]You go to our unicameral,
[00:04:52.860]the vast majority of the senators in the unicameral
[00:04:56.190]had their education here
[00:04:58.440]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:05:01.530]the vast majority of the 50 largest businesses in Nebraska
[00:05:06.720]and the CEOs of those organizations and their leadership,
[00:05:10.410]the majority of them educated here
[00:05:13.770]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:05:15.900]So that, just that access is powerful.
[00:05:19.110]You know, the knowledge
[00:05:21.210]that we are creating here with you,
[00:05:24.720]not just to create workforce
[00:05:28.620]or to do economic development,
[00:05:31.320]but the ability to think critically,
[00:05:33.930]to understand critically, to make decisions critically,
[00:05:37.560]that's what this education provides
[00:05:40.500]here powerfully at this land-grant university.
[00:05:43.770]So that access, Hunter, is so important.
[00:05:46.380]I'm so proud of that.
[00:05:48.600]You know, I'm doing a lot of reflection
[00:05:50.580]back over the last seven years,
[00:05:52.290]you know, as I go forward here and leave the position.
[00:05:57.570]And probably the thing that I'm most powerfully proud of
[00:06:01.260]is that in those last seven years,
[00:06:04.560]we have graduated more students with high quality degrees
[00:06:09.450]here than ever in our history, than ever in our history.
[00:06:14.430]Four of the last six years,
[00:06:16.020]including, we think, this year in two weeks,
[00:06:18.990]less than two weeks time now for May commencement,
[00:06:21.870]will be record-graduating classes for our university,
[00:06:26.070]never happened before in our history.
[00:06:28.770]And again, that access
[00:06:30.570]and the access to that high quality education
[00:06:33.690]being such an important part of that.
[00:06:35.370]And then lastly, you know, kind of an add-on to that,
[00:06:39.570]I would be very remiss if I didn't say,
[00:06:42.360]I'm also very proud of the fact
[00:06:44.460]that over that course of time,
[00:06:46.680]our graduation rate here has increased by over 11%.
[00:06:52.080]Our four-year graduation rate at the university
[00:06:55.020]is the highest it's been historically.
[00:06:58.740]And that's happened even during a time
[00:07:01.800]of Covid and a global pandemic.
[00:07:04.350]And it's just amazing to me that that that has happened.
[00:07:08.490]The need for that education,
[00:07:10.290]so the other part of your question, right,
[00:07:12.150]about the questions out there
[00:07:14.310]about the value of higher education
[00:07:16.890]or the value of higher education moving forward,
[00:07:20.010]we know from all kinds of data that show us
[00:07:23.880]that even if you look at it from a workforce perspective,
[00:07:27.900]your education leading to the workforce,
[00:07:31.410]that 70% of the jobs that are out there now
[00:07:35.610]and ahead of time in the future
[00:07:38.070]are going to require at least
[00:07:40.890]a bachelor's degree level education, if not more,
[00:07:45.510]if not greater graduate education beyond that.
[00:07:48.990]So that need is still there, absolutely.
[00:07:52.050]Even as great as it's ever been in our history
[00:07:55.200]as a land-grant institution.
[00:07:57.840]Make sense, Hunter? Absolutely.
[00:08:00.111]You have a legal argument for me?
[00:08:01.389](audience laughing)
[00:08:05.410]Thank you.
[00:08:06.527]I have a question. Oh-oh.
[00:08:09.090]Professor Farritor.
[00:08:10.623]It's Professor Farritor, sir.
[00:08:12.783](all laughing)
[00:08:15.060]Chancellor Green,
[00:08:16.740]I'm also an alumni of Harvard University, and like you,
[00:08:20.310]chose to come back
[00:08:21.990]and now in faculty mechanical engineering.
[00:08:24.510]And I came back because Nebraska,
[00:08:26.430]who is very supportive of the research that I do,
[00:08:29.940]the state and the university.
[00:08:31.740]Can you, along with our teaching mission,
[00:08:34.110]I think research is an important role of the university
[00:08:37.320]that for us to engage the state and the world.
[00:08:41.247]Can you comment on the research portion
[00:08:43.830]of the university's mission in your time and going forward?
[00:08:48.540]Yeah, well, let me embellish
[00:08:50.940]Dr. Farritor a little bit here.
[00:08:53.040]So I've watched with great interests Dr. Farritor's career
[00:08:57.540]in 13 years I've been at the university,
[00:08:59.580]and it was already well-established
[00:09:01.140]before I even got here 13 years ago.
[00:09:04.320]And in case you don't know,
[00:09:06.240]he's one of the best professors here at this university
[00:09:09.660]in mechanical and materials engineering.
[00:09:11.640]He is a native of Ravenna, Nebraska and central Nebraska,
[00:09:16.440]which coincidentally, I got a gift yesterday
[00:09:18.990]of a, you know, a painting of Custer County, Nebraska.
[00:09:21.900]So your home area, Shane.
[00:09:24.570]And is probably seen as the entrepreneur faculty member
[00:09:29.940]at the University of Nebraska, and has been for a while.
[00:09:33.000]So I just want to brag on you a little bit, Shane,
[00:09:35.070]because you're awesome. Thank you.
[00:09:37.110]And recently
[00:09:38.550]has been involved in the starting of Virtual Incision,
[00:09:41.730]new surgical robotics company that is set to revolutionize
[00:09:46.020]surgery through miniaturized robots
[00:09:48.570]that he and and his co-founder from the UNMC
[00:09:53.460]have co-founded, and it's now about ready to take off
[00:09:55.860]and change the world.
[00:09:56.693]So Shane, thank you for everything you've done.
[00:09:58.950]Okay, research.
[00:10:01.500]Research and discovery is the engine of ingenuity.
[00:10:05.250]We know that.
[00:10:06.810]It's the engine that's going to help change the world.
[00:10:09.990]You heard me mentioned a few minutes ago
[00:10:12.063]that in our land-grant mission,
[00:10:14.220]our land-grant mission is highest quality education,
[00:10:16.680]accessible education, research and discovery,
[00:10:20.730]and development of new technologies,
[00:10:23.100]and new knowledge from that research to drive forward.
[00:10:27.090]That was part of our land-grant mission
[00:10:28.920]from the very beginning
[00:10:31.080]in areas that matter to the place,
[00:10:33.990]that matter to the place of Nebraska
[00:10:35.940]as its land-grant university.
[00:10:37.890]And our third part of our mission is engagement
[00:10:40.470]with the people of the state of Nebraska.
[00:10:42.120]And we'll probably talk about that this afternoon as well.
[00:10:45.870]Research, so we're a Carnegie 1,
[00:10:50.010]R1, as is referred to, level university.
[00:10:53.340]We're the only Carnegie 1 research university in Nebraska.
[00:10:57.480]UNL is the only one in our state.
[00:11:00.750]And what that means is that we have research-intensive work
[00:11:05.610]across our campus in most of the major fields
[00:11:09.450]that we study here, right?
[00:11:11.670]So across all of our non-academic colleges.
[00:11:15.210]What many people don't know is that UNL
[00:11:19.470]is considered an international leader
[00:11:22.290]in research in agriculture and food and life sciences
[00:11:25.620]and international leader in materials sciences,
[00:11:29.430]an area that Dr. Farritor is from,
[00:11:32.520]a world leader in digital research in the humanities,
[00:11:35.280]a world leader in early childhood education
[00:11:38.040]and early childhood development.
[00:11:39.900]A number of areas that we're really seen
[00:11:42.840]as one of the leaders internationally in the world.
[00:11:46.680]We've been very successful over the last,
[00:11:50.160]I would say, decade and a half, Shane,
[00:11:53.910]in elevating and increasing our research enterprise
[00:11:56.880]here at the university.
[00:11:58.650]In the last seven years,
[00:12:00.300]we have seen increases in our research capacity,
[00:12:03.900]our research expenditures is how we measure that,
[00:12:07.080]here at the university, each of those seven years,
[00:12:10.050]including the three years we've been in a Covid pandemic,
[00:12:14.400]which most institutions were not able to do,
[00:12:18.360]even in the Big Ten, they were not able to do that.
[00:12:21.930]They slipped or they fell back or they tried to maintain.
[00:12:25.200]We moved forward in all of those years,
[00:12:27.780]including last year
[00:12:28.890]when our research expenditures here were $341 million
[00:12:33.180]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:12:35.070]which was a 6% increase over the year before.
[00:12:39.120]So I'm really proud of that,
[00:12:40.560]and proud of the work that we're doing,
[00:12:42.090]the impact that it's making around the world.
[00:12:45.180]And I would add to that,
[00:12:47.850]you heard me say this a minute ago,
[00:12:50.790]we're not doing research
[00:12:52.770]just for the benefit of doing research.
[00:12:55.080]We're doing research that matters to Nebraska
[00:12:58.590]and matters to the people of Nebraska.
[00:13:01.890]And it's just great to see that happening.
[00:13:04.650]I anticipate, if I was to look out, Shane,
[00:13:07.800]and I think what I'm going to see happen
[00:13:10.230]as Shane and I watch from the distance
[00:13:12.300]here in Lincoln the next decade,
[00:13:14.580]I expect to see that continue to happen
[00:13:18.390]and to continue to grow in ways
[00:13:21.060]that are even beyond what we've seen
[00:13:23.160]because of the pandemic, frankly, over the last few years.
[00:13:28.080]I'm hopeful, and you know this,
[00:13:29.453]because you were part of the author of it,
[00:13:31.830]in our strategic plan, the N2025 plan,
[00:13:34.890]we have a goal of having $450 million
[00:13:37.620]in research expenditures here at UNL
[00:13:40.200]within the next few years.
[00:13:42.000]And I think we'll see that happen.
[00:13:44.190]I really do. I'm very proud of it.
[00:13:49.260]Who's next?
[00:13:50.760]Hello, Chancellor Green.
[00:13:52.410]My name is Osvaldo Palma Vargas.
[00:13:54.690]I am a sociology major here at the University of Nebraska
[00:13:58.620]and soon to be a graduate in a couple weeks.
[00:14:01.830]Yeah. Just a bit of background.
[00:14:03.240]I'm quite involved on campus with multiple organizations
[00:14:06.210]including Nebraska College Preparatory Academy,
[00:14:08.640]the University Honors Program, the Combs Honor Scholars,
[00:14:12.000]new student enrollment, et cetera,
[00:14:13.800]and different organizations that essentially
[00:14:16.260]cultivate growth in future leaders,
[00:14:18.690]as well as finding a sense of community,
[00:14:20.910]not only within our campus space,
[00:14:22.200]but also within our general Lincoln community.
[00:14:25.080]And so my question to you essentially is
[00:14:27.990]if you could tell us a bit more
[00:14:28.920]about how student engagement and involvement on campus
[00:14:32.040]has helped create a more engaged
[00:14:35.370]and diverse group of leaders at our university.
[00:14:39.840]You didn't know I was gonna do this, but congratulations.
[00:14:42.210]You were a Student Luminary awardee last week,
[00:14:44.670]so congratulations on that award.
[00:14:47.190]It's wonderful.
[00:14:48.347](audience clapping)
[00:14:50.490]Yeah, so I'm obviously bragging up our university today
[00:14:55.200]because I'm proud of it and really proud of what we do here.
[00:14:59.070]But another hallmark of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:15:03.210]is that our students here matter.
[00:15:07.440]And our students are central to what we do.
[00:15:10.500]Yeah, I've been at a number of universities
[00:15:12.390]in the course of my career here at Nebraska,
[00:15:15.480]but at several others as well.
[00:15:17.340]And have colleagues all over the country
[00:15:19.830]at big public universities all over the country,
[00:15:22.380]including those in the Big Ten, our partners in the Big Ten.
[00:15:26.040]We are more student-centric here
[00:15:28.080]than any of the places I've been.
[00:15:31.260]Absolutely more student-centric
[00:15:33.690]in that the student experience here matters,
[00:15:36.480]and what we are teaching here matters.
[00:15:39.900]And that that one-on-one experience with students,
[00:15:44.850]you know, with our faculty,
[00:15:46.320]with student support programs that we have is,
[00:15:50.790]it is the best in the Big Ten.
[00:15:52.500]I'm convinced that is absolutely the case.
[00:15:55.560]We also believe that every person
[00:15:58.530]and every interaction matters here.
[00:16:00.330]You know, that is part of our mantra
[00:16:02.190]here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:16:04.080]We believe it.
[00:16:05.190]We believe in that being central to who we are.
[00:16:09.600]And I, you know, I don't want you to think
[00:16:11.070]I'm just blowing smoke when I say
[00:16:13.500]that we truly are unique in that respect.
[00:16:18.570]I remember saying when I became chancellor in April of 2016,
[00:16:23.730]I remember really well the day that happened.
[00:16:27.600]Some of you may have read this,
[00:16:28.770]Daily Nebraskan talked about this about a week ago.
[00:16:33.000]I had actually taught a class.
[00:16:35.370]I was teaching a class in the animal science department
[00:16:39.150]where I'm headed to right after this.
[00:16:40.860]I'm a faculty member in animal science
[00:16:42.390]and I'm going over to work with a group of students
[00:16:44.700]right after this in a forum that they're hosting.
[00:16:48.180]And I'd been asked to come every semester
[00:16:50.460]and teach the senior students who were graduating
[00:16:53.670]in animal science a little bit of my life journey,
[00:16:57.000]and as an animal scientist, and as a leader, and so forth.
[00:17:00.750]I taught that class at one o'clock in the afternoon.
[00:17:03.480]I would characterize it as not unusual.
[00:17:07.890]That's the way we engage our students
[00:17:10.470]here at the university, wasn't unusual.
[00:17:12.990]Two o'clock in the afternoon,
[00:17:14.460]I went downtown to the Van Brunt Center
[00:17:16.980]to be announced as the new chancellor.
[00:17:20.520]You know, and I stood up and I said,
[00:17:22.237]"It's just surreal to be named to this position
[00:17:27.030]at a university that really cares about its students.
[00:17:32.160]And that really puts its students central to what it does
[00:17:36.240]in a way that no others do," right?
[00:17:40.350]And I'm in it,
[00:17:41.670]and I believe it that that is who we are
[00:17:44.490]here as a university.
[00:17:46.260]So, Osvaldo, a good question,
[00:17:49.080]but that would be what I would've to say.
[00:17:52.943]Can you just go talk us through a little bit
[00:17:55.390]about what has made you most excited about coming?
[00:17:57.960]Well, coming back to the university when you came back
[00:18:00.390]in 2010 back, and what has made you really excited
[00:18:03.120]to come to work every day the last (indistinct)?
[00:18:06.270]Yeah, Paul. Good, Paul, good question.
[00:18:08.760]And you had a great year to look forward to
[00:18:10.290]as a new student body president.
[00:18:11.910]Congratulations on that.
[00:18:14.190]You know, what made me come back?
[00:18:16.833]So, I have to put a little context around this first.
[00:18:20.760]So I actually had been away from higher education
[00:18:24.030]for a decade.
[00:18:25.530]So I was a college professor at Texas Tech University
[00:18:28.770]and then Colorado State University for a number of years.
[00:18:32.790]I left the faculty position I had at Colorado State in 2000.
[00:18:37.650]And I was out of academia for 10 years.
[00:18:39.750]I was in private industry and a start-up company
[00:18:42.600]as an executive in a start-up company.
[00:18:44.790]Then I was a national research leader
[00:18:47.040]for the US Department of Agriculture for a period of years.
[00:18:49.770]Then I was another executive stint with Pfizer,
[00:18:52.830]the pharmaceutical company in the animal health arena.
[00:18:56.940]And I had been recruited in 2010
[00:19:01.830]to come back to UNL,
[00:19:04.200]and to look at coming back
[00:19:06.990]to lead the Institute of Ag and Natural Resources
[00:19:09.360]that we're kind of standing in the middle of here physically
[00:19:12.330]on East Campus today.
[00:19:14.520]That was not my plan, Paul.
[00:19:17.520]I'll be really honest with you.
[00:19:19.890]My plan was that I had left academia
[00:19:23.340]to be in the business and the government sector.
[00:19:26.040]And I thought that's probably where I would be
[00:19:27.870]the rest of my career.
[00:19:29.760]And when I got recruited by a lot of alums
[00:19:32.970]here at the university, they knew I was an alum,
[00:19:35.400]that this was one of my alma maters,
[00:19:37.740]was my wife's double alma mater.
[00:19:40.410]We lived in Nebraska at the time actually as well.
[00:19:43.710]And I was skeptical that I wanted to do that
[00:19:48.330]because of the team, and the team I was leading,
[00:19:51.180]and didn't feel like I could leave that team
[00:19:53.790]or that was the right thing to do.
[00:19:55.950]But when I came here to interview,
[00:19:58.560]I distinctly remember it really, really well.
[00:20:01.080]When I came here to interview for that vice chancellor,
[00:20:04.080]at the time, role,
[00:20:05.850]when I walked on this campus
[00:20:08.190]and went into the very first one of those interviews,
[00:20:11.100]I knew this was where I was supposed to be.
[00:20:14.730]Yeah. I just knew it.
[00:20:16.050]And it was because of the importance of that student piece
[00:20:19.650]that I talked about earlier,
[00:20:21.540]because of the need that was there in agriculture,
[00:20:24.390]particularly at that time.
[00:20:26.640]And because of the value
[00:20:27.960]that we were going to be able to build in the ag sciences,
[00:20:31.440]I just knew it,
[00:20:32.910]that that's what made me excited to come back, right?
[00:20:35.460]And I wasn't wrong about that.
[00:20:38.070]Thankfully, I wasn't wrong about that.
[00:20:40.080]That was absolutely right.
[00:20:41.820]What made me most excited to come to work every day
[00:20:45.120]was what I just told you.
[00:20:47.730]But at the different level now, instead of just ag-focused,
[00:20:52.950]really the entire institution,
[00:20:55.230]and focused in that way with the entire institution.
[00:20:58.950]Thanks for the question.
[00:21:01.800]Oh, my. I have a question too.
[00:21:05.670]First, so before I pose my question,
[00:21:07.890]I just wanna say thank you.
[00:21:09.930]Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.
[00:21:12.634]And I think I can speak from everyone here,
[00:21:14.906]everyone who's watching and they'll be watching this
[00:21:17.783]for the next several weeks,
[00:21:20.640]you have been our staunch leader,
[00:21:22.920]and you have been just sort of that North Star
[00:21:26.010]that we needed so incredibly much
[00:21:29.160]over the last several years.
[00:21:31.110]I remember clearly that day when you came over
[00:21:34.470]Yeah, I do. (indistinct) center,
[00:21:38.940]when you were installed as our chancellor,
[00:21:43.050]I think there was an incredible amount of excitement
[00:21:47.130]and enthusiasm and anticipation for what was yet to come.
[00:21:51.840]I'm very proud that I had a small part in all of that.
[00:21:57.180]But never did any of us expect
[00:22:00.480]what we would be getting into.
[00:22:02.190]And you led us through some really
[00:22:05.430]challenging times and unchartered territories.
[00:22:09.930]And I just will say again from, you know,
[00:22:13.683]from where I sit and I think from where many of us sit,
[00:22:17.100]we couldn't have asked for a more steadfast leader,
[00:22:22.470]a patient, heartfelt, you know,
[00:22:25.590]sort of individual who cared so deeply
[00:22:28.230]about our institution and every single person here,
[00:22:31.470]and got us through in ways
[00:22:33.720]that not only let us hold our own,
[00:22:36.903]but actually landed us as a much more solid,
[00:22:42.060]stronger, more resilient institution.
[00:22:45.540]So I just wanted to say thank you.
[00:22:47.940]Yeah, thanks, Sue. (audience clapping)
[00:22:50.100]So thank you.
[00:22:52.650]All right, so a little context.
[00:22:54.721](audience laughing)
[00:22:55.920]A little context. You can tell I like context, right?
[00:22:58.410]So a little context.
[00:22:59.790]Sue was the Search Committee Chair
[00:23:02.370]when I was being vetted for the chancellor position.
[00:23:05.707]So when I talked about that day of the announcement,
[00:23:08.010]Sue was on the front row
[00:23:09.090]because she'd been the chair of that committee.
[00:23:11.760]There's a committee like that operating today
[00:23:14.550]to search for the next chancellor currently.
[00:23:17.820]And Sue's been a leader a long time on this campus,
[00:23:21.510]and is the person in early childhood development
[00:23:24.960]in the world, in my view, Sue Sheridan.
[00:23:28.800]You know,
[00:23:31.230]go back to April of 2016, right?
[00:23:34.860]I remember when I stood up and said
[00:23:36.450]the day that we announced, right?
[00:23:39.120]I stood up and said, "It's a surreal moment.
[00:23:41.010]I can't believe this is happening.
[00:23:43.140]Wow, I mean, it's first-gen-educated kid
[00:23:45.840]and here I am to have the opportunity
[00:23:47.790]to lead this great institution," you know, all of that.
[00:23:50.970]And brimming with hope and brimming with enthusiasm.
[00:23:54.300]And "We're gonna build this thing to,"
[00:23:56.250]I think I said, "35,000 students," remember that?
[00:23:59.370]And the opportunities we have to build in research.
[00:24:02.790]We've done a lot of that and been successful
[00:24:05.550]in doing a lot of that.
[00:24:07.080]But none of us,
[00:24:08.640]and if someone says that they could have predicted
[00:24:13.740]what 2016, '17, '18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23
[00:24:18.870]were gonna look like, they're kidding themselves.
[00:24:21.780]'Cause none of us could have ever predicted
[00:24:24.750]that the times would be the kind of times that we've had.
[00:24:28.440]Whether that's a global pandemic that none of us saw coming,
[00:24:32.550]or were expecting at least to happen
[00:24:34.920]at the level that it happened,
[00:24:36.840]and the response with which it happened,
[00:24:38.820]or whether it's political polarization growing over time,
[00:24:42.660]or unrest in the world,
[00:24:44.370]and geopolitical tensions in the world,
[00:24:46.710]or, you know, racial unrest that has grown over time,
[00:24:50.670]none of that was predictable for us, you know?
[00:24:55.380]And it happened, right?
[00:24:57.210]All of that happened.
[00:24:58.830]I've shared with several of you that when the whole lead up
[00:25:03.810]to what we now call Covid happened, our graduating class,
[00:25:08.100]several of you who are here today are in that class,
[00:25:12.360]were freshmen that year.
[00:25:15.630]So that graduating class was the Covid class.
[00:25:19.980]I mean, that's just real, right?
[00:25:23.430]It was three years ago,
[00:25:25.500]when a little over three years ago
[00:25:26.970]when that happened, right?
[00:25:28.890]None of us could have predicted that.
[00:25:30.570]And when we were leading up to that
[00:25:32.910]and we were beginning to see what we didn't know,
[00:25:36.510]but could be a big deal, you know,
[00:25:39.750]you remember back to that,
[00:25:41.757]those of you who were freshmen here at the time,
[00:25:44.850]remember the cruise ship deals,
[00:25:46.770]and the people that were carted to Omaha
[00:25:49.770]and put in quarantine and got all of that kind of,
[00:25:51.653]we were all watching it,
[00:25:52.950]but we didn't know anything but really was,
[00:25:55.800]well, I remember when it became real.
[00:25:58.500]When it became real was when Jeff Gold,
[00:26:02.400]my colleague at the men's center told me
[00:26:05.190]what the predicted numbers could be
[00:26:07.110]of infections and of deaths that could result
[00:26:10.410]from what they knew at that time.
[00:26:12.120]That was February of 2020.
[00:26:14.940]And that was the first wake-up call for many of us.
[00:26:18.480]And you can imagine the feeling of responsibility
[00:26:22.320]that anyone in a leadership position had.
[00:26:25.050]No matter whether it's a secondary school program,
[00:26:28.140]a public institution like ours, governmental officials,
[00:26:32.160]public health officials, you know,
[00:26:34.710]what they were thinking at the time
[00:26:37.080]with all of those unknowns
[00:26:38.880]when it became real to us on March 8th, 2020.
[00:26:42.420]And we knew then that we had a situation
[00:26:45.390]that was nothing like any of us
[00:26:46.830]had ever seen in our lifetime,
[00:26:48.990]most anyone in human world would not have known.
[00:26:52.980]That's when it set in.
[00:26:54.330]And I've shared this with some of you before.
[00:26:57.480]I remember that day really well.
[00:26:59.640]Deb will remember, our communications director
[00:27:02.040]will remember this very well as well.
[00:27:04.590]We were sequestered in the conference room in Canfield Hall
[00:27:08.550]in my office, where our leadership team had been for days,
[00:27:12.720]trying to think our way through what was coming at us,
[00:27:16.380]what we were going to need to do to protect our students,
[00:27:19.470]to protect our institution, to protect our community,
[00:27:23.190]to do our part in what the unknown was.
[00:27:27.000]And we had to make the decision to close the university.
[00:27:30.840]Remember that?
[00:27:31.920]And send students home.
[00:27:34.080]And not knowing,
[00:27:35.550]I guess many of us naively thought,
[00:27:38.257]"Well, we'll be back first of April after spring break,
[00:27:42.120]and this will be a blip and we'll go forward."
[00:27:44.820]But none of us really knew what that was going to be like.
[00:27:48.420]I remember sitting in the chair at that table that day
[00:27:52.140]and thinking I was meant to be here today.
[00:27:57.030]I was meant to be here to know how to lead that
[00:28:00.060]and how to make decisions, how to think critically,
[00:28:02.880]how to analyze critically,
[00:28:04.890]and to know what to do for our university community.
[00:28:10.110]And from there forward, it was fine.
[00:28:13.110]Wasn't fine, but it was fine, right?
[00:28:15.870]Because we did respond in a way
[00:28:18.633]that I'm really proud of the way
[00:28:20.640]we responded as an institution,
[00:28:22.320]we led as an institution nationally.
[00:28:25.830]And we handled that in a way that, as you said, Sue,
[00:28:30.660]we came out of in a fundamentally stronger place
[00:28:35.100]than we went in by comparison
[00:28:37.590]to what happened all over the country,
[00:28:40.530]particularly in higher ed.
[00:28:42.270]And I think we're going to see,
[00:28:45.510]for a number of years to come,
[00:28:47.610]recovery from that and what that's going to look like
[00:28:50.850]because of those kind of differential responses
[00:28:53.640]that happened.
[00:28:54.473]But I'm really proud of the way
[00:28:56.070]our faculty pivoted, our staff.
[00:28:58.800]I mean, our staff stood up unbelievable amounts
[00:29:03.450]of new things to do in order for you to come back.
[00:29:09.330]For our students to be able to be back that fall,
[00:29:11.850]even though it was a weird fall,
[00:29:14.220]we all know that, to be back that fall
[00:29:17.190]was a gargantuan accomplishment, right?
[00:29:22.170]And I hope our students who are graduating within two weeks
[00:29:27.570]understand and feel the importance of that
[00:29:31.200]and what that meant for that to be able to happen that way.
[00:29:35.070]And that's true in research.
[00:29:36.690]You know, when I mentioned research earlier,
[00:29:38.760]I mean, we could have shut our research programs down.
[00:29:41.550]We didn't.
[00:29:42.990]We didn't lose our research programs
[00:29:45.330]'cause we were so keen and important on making that happen,
[00:29:50.370]that we couldn't lose that ground
[00:29:52.380]that we went to great lengths to make that happen.
[00:29:54.570]And then the other thing that I'll point out,
[00:29:57.360]I'll never forget this.
[00:29:59.040]We had people stepping up here at the university to say,
[00:30:02.347]"What can we do to help the public health community
[00:30:07.530]to get through this?"
[00:30:08.910]Right? So we had people making hand sanitizer here.
[00:30:12.090]Well, if you remember that?
[00:30:13.860]We had people at Innovation Campus
[00:30:15.870]making the hand sanitizer that was so direly in need,
[00:30:19.290]that didn't exist.
[00:30:20.550]We didn't have ways to deliver that.
[00:30:22.740]Think nursing homes, hospitals,
[00:30:25.140]places that needed that throughout our own state,
[00:30:27.870]we made that here, stood up the enterprise to do that,
[00:30:32.070]and made that here at the university
[00:30:34.260]from the ingenuity of our staff
[00:30:36.960]that really stood up and made that happen.
[00:30:39.270]And then turned around and were able to create that for,
[00:30:42.630]I know this sounds weird to you,
[00:30:43.920]but I mean it was a huge deal.
[00:30:45.720]They created those resources
[00:30:47.460]for all of the food safety inspection service people
[00:30:50.370]in the United States.
[00:30:52.140]Was unbelievable to me that that happened here
[00:30:55.530]through the ingenuity of our people at the university.
[00:30:58.560]So I could go on and on about it. I mean, I told you so.
[00:31:01.299]I was just so immensely proud of the way it happened,
[00:31:04.380]even though it was so hard.
[00:31:06.570]I mean, it was hard for all of us.
[00:31:08.180]It was really hard for all of us.
[00:31:10.410]But our people did it with grace.
[00:31:12.180]They did it with fortitude.
[00:31:13.980]They just were resilient, right?
[00:31:18.000]And came through it in a way
[00:31:19.230]that I'm really, really proud of.
[00:31:20.670]And for us to have had record-graduating classes
[00:31:24.750]for you guys, I mean, I just, I marvel at that
[00:31:29.354]that that happened.
[00:31:30.667]Okay. But that wasn't really my question.
[00:31:31.830]I know. (audience laughing)
[00:31:34.740]When you were installed as chancellor,
[00:31:38.130]a lot of really exciting things to hit.
[00:31:41.850]One was that we celebrated,
[00:31:43.530]we've got 150th anniversary
[00:31:45.470]Right. at our institution.
[00:31:47.550]Another is that we crafted an N150 vision.
[00:31:51.494]Okay.
[00:31:52.525]And you already mentioned that we drafted, solidified,
[00:31:57.900]and launched an N2025 Strategic Plan.
[00:32:01.754]Okay. Right.
[00:32:02.587]So considering those
[00:32:03.540]and other really sort of forward-looking things
[00:32:06.390]that have happened in your tenure here as chancellor,
[00:32:09.930]what are you most excited about looking forward
[00:32:12.390]into the future of this institution?
[00:32:14.250]Yeah, so the N2025 has a important date on it,
[00:32:18.180]which is two years from now, right?
[00:32:20.250]So it means the five-year plan to get to 2025
[00:32:24.327]for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:32:26.760]And we have made great progress in the five aims of that.
[00:32:31.950]Sue was one of the co-chairs, as was Dr. Farritor
[00:32:35.220]of forming that N2025 vision
[00:32:38.340]that came out of our N150 vision we had
[00:32:41.760]during our 150th anniversary year,
[00:32:43.680]every student should be able to quote this.
[00:32:45.330]2019 was our 150th anniversary year.
[00:32:49.650]And it was the year before our current freshman class,
[00:32:53.100]you know, was kind of in that bridge year.
[00:32:56.310]And we had a commission of,
[00:32:58.560]I think about 160 people that were involved for a full year
[00:33:03.360]talking about what should this institution look like
[00:33:07.200]at its 175th anniversary,
[00:33:11.010]25 years down the road?
[00:33:13.320]And if you think about in today's culture,
[00:33:15.210]25 years is like really dreaming
[00:33:18.180]because it's hard to maybe even think five years out.
[00:33:21.750]So we're really thinking long-term visioning.
[00:33:23.940]And talked a lot about what our students were going to need,
[00:33:27.300]what we were going to need to really push
[00:33:29.970]in our student population,
[00:33:31.350]and our research work and our engagement,
[00:33:33.150]all the missions of the land-grant university.
[00:33:35.880]And out of that formed the N2025,
[00:33:38.490]the first five years of that strategic plan.
[00:33:42.390]The things I'm really excited about, Sue,
[00:33:44.550]that are in that plan,
[00:33:46.410]the research part I've already mentioned.
[00:33:48.390]We had high enrollment goals in there.
[00:33:50.760]That's pretty tough in the environment
[00:33:53.220]that we're in now post-Covid.
[00:33:55.290]So I don't think we're going to be looking at the numbers
[00:33:57.750]as much as the quality of the enrollment
[00:34:00.540]that we're going to have moving forward.
[00:34:02.790]But the student experience piece that is in there,
[00:34:07.140]the most valuable and important thing
[00:34:09.253]that is in that N2025 plan, in Ronnie Green's estimation,
[00:34:13.860]is that every one of our students as undergraduates
[00:34:16.860]will graduate with an experiential learning opportunity,
[00:34:20.850]at least one or more internships, paid internships,
[00:34:26.070]international experience, and research experience.
[00:34:30.330]And the goal for that is 2025,
[00:34:34.320]the class that will graduate two years from now.
[00:34:37.800]And we're on track heavily to meet that,
[00:34:41.220]that goal across the institution.
[00:34:42.990]That is immensely valuable
[00:34:45.660]in what I'm really proud of on the student experience piece.
[00:34:48.840]Another one of the goals is that we would become
[00:34:50.940]a Carnegie Community-Engaged University,
[00:34:53.610]designated by the Carnegie Foundation.
[00:34:56.010]We put the paperwork in for that two weeks ago.
[00:35:00.090]And we are very optimistic
[00:35:02.340]we will be named a Carnegie Community Engagement University
[00:35:06.660]by the end of this year.
[00:35:08.100]So we're very, very pleased about that.
[00:35:11.490]I'm very pleased about the diversity goals in our N2025.
[00:35:16.860]We have doubled the diversity of our student population
[00:35:20.730]in the last seven years, which is phenomenal.
[00:35:25.320]It's never happened in our history before.
[00:35:27.960]I think when I started in 2016,
[00:35:30.150]the incoming class of first-time students
[00:35:33.420]here at the university was something like
[00:35:36.660]13% underrepresented minority students in that class.
[00:35:41.370]Today, it is almost double that.
[00:35:44.940]And this fall's class,
[00:35:46.200]we expect we'll continue to see that grow.
[00:35:48.720]That is immensely important for Nebraska,
[00:35:52.470]immensely important for us moving forward.
[00:35:55.410]And so to see that happen, you know, is really great.
[00:35:58.680]I'm looking forward to seeing that continue to grow,
[00:36:02.400]and the importance of that growing
[00:36:05.340]and of that belonging happening here at this university.
[00:36:08.520]So those are the things that I would point to
[00:36:11.340]as excited about for the future.
[00:36:17.190]Oh-oh, Roni.
[00:36:18.960]Hi, Chancellor Green. How are you?
[00:36:20.700]I'm good. How are you?
[00:36:21.533]Good. Good.
[00:36:22.620]Yeah, like you touched on a little bit, talking to Sue.
[00:36:25.110]I was elected student body president
[00:36:27.090]the day before the university shut down
[00:36:29.340]due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I remember. I remember.
[00:36:31.710]And over the course of our time serving together,
[00:36:34.830]we handled a lot of those challenges
[00:36:37.800]related to the pandemic,
[00:36:39.060]but also to the heightened attention on diversity,
[00:36:42.870]equity, and inclusion. Right. Right.
[00:36:44.610]And what that would look like on our campus.
[00:36:47.100]Looking back on that really pivotal year,
[00:36:50.220]how do you think that we did?
[00:36:51.540]And where do you see that moving forward?
[00:36:55.860]Yeah, so you think about that year, Roni.
[00:36:58.920]I mean, you remember it well, right?
[00:37:00.660]You're right, you were elected right there
[00:37:03.630]when all of this was happening.
[00:37:05.130]And the following year was your year of unexpected.
[00:37:08.700]We never knew this was going to happen. What do we do?
[00:37:10.920]I remember having many conversations with you
[00:37:12.960]about Covid policy,
[00:37:14.850]even in how we're going to handle our students
[00:37:17.820]through this first year that we went through.
[00:37:21.000]So thank you for your leadership during that time.
[00:37:25.020]You also remember summer of 2020, right?
[00:37:28.740]And the things that happened around race
[00:37:31.980]in the summer of 2020 that were very hard, very difficult,
[00:37:36.900]still remain hard, you know, in our society and our culture.
[00:37:42.210]Our diversity efforts, and I'm very proud of them.
[00:37:46.920]And I think we have,
[00:37:48.300]we have really put ourselves in a place
[00:37:51.990]from diversity and equity and inclusion
[00:37:54.060]position of leadership in this area.
[00:37:57.180]And it's working in this area. And I'm very proud of that.
[00:38:00.990]I'd like to see us do even more,
[00:38:02.580]to be really candid with you.
[00:38:04.273]I think we need to do more in this area.
[00:38:07.320]So I'm proud of that.
[00:38:09.270]I wish everyone understood its importance.
[00:38:13.470]I wish everyone understood its importance
[00:38:15.450]because there's a lot of conversation out there
[00:38:18.150]about this currently that's not understood,
[00:38:21.960]that is not appropriately understood.
[00:38:24.810]And that's where I wish it was different.
[00:38:27.930]I wish that I'd been able to influence that more.
[00:38:32.400]Thank you.
[00:38:33.300]Any other questions? Oh, boy, here we go.
[00:38:36.285]Hi, Chancellor. Hi, how are you?
[00:38:37.783]Good, how are you? Good.
[00:38:38.820]My name's Lauren Kruger.
[00:38:39.660]I'm current internal vice president.
[00:38:41.610]So we're all very excited for the upcoming year,
[00:38:44.067]and kind of, we're gonna be having to navigate
[00:38:46.080]a new chancellor and your vice chancellor.
[00:38:47.850]So we're really excited for that opportunity.
[00:38:49.680]But kind of looking towards the new incoming class of '26,
[00:38:54.330]if you have any advice that you would give to a freshman
[00:38:56.590]coming to UNL, what would you say to them?
[00:38:59.580]And this really hasn't changed, Lauren.
[00:39:02.250]This is what I said in 2016 and is what I say in 2023.
[00:39:06.510]For incoming students, right?
[00:39:08.970]When those kids run through the tunnel and form the N
[00:39:12.210]in August as the incoming freshman class,
[00:39:15.870]come here to learn how to think critically.
[00:39:20.040]That is your focus.
[00:39:21.090]Come here and learn how to think critically
[00:39:22.950]and embrace that.
[00:39:24.360]Understand the importance of that,
[00:39:26.820]and emphasize that in your undergraduate years
[00:39:30.840]that you have ahead of you and engage,
[00:39:34.200]absolutely engage with the university,
[00:39:37.380]whether that's academically, you know, in your classes.
[00:39:41.640]You know, don't be a passive student.
[00:39:45.420]Be an engaged student
[00:39:47.820]and extracurricularly at the university.
[00:39:51.390]Be an engaged student extracurricularly
[00:39:53.880]and learn from one another.
[00:39:55.740]You know, I've been known for saying this
[00:39:57.540]for a long time to students,
[00:40:00.150]excuse me, Sue and Shane, they may not agree with it.
[00:40:02.940]This is faculty members.
[00:40:04.140]But you will learn speaking to the freshman class,
[00:40:08.250]you will learn as much or more from your colleagues
[00:40:10.410]as you will from the faculty.
[00:40:13.890]And I absolutely believe that.
[00:40:16.230]I absolutely believe it, was true for me as a student.
[00:40:19.500]And I would encourage students that way.
[00:40:22.290]Does that make sense?
[00:40:24.390]Well, thanks for being here, folks.
[00:40:26.370]This was more than I anticipated, actually.
[00:40:29.577](all laughing)
[00:40:31.350]Yeah, I could probably stand up
[00:40:32.220]and talk about some of this stuff for a long time
[00:40:33.503]in case you couldn't tell, but yeah.
[00:40:35.830]Yeah. I love this university, you all know that.
[00:40:38.926](audience clapping)

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Parting Dialogue with Chancellor Green

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